Saturday, March 9, 2013

Noah... Abraham ... Joseph...Moses


Faith... Leadership... Responsibility ... God

We as parents can't physically save our children's soul. We can try to control them as much as we want,but ultimately the choice is theirs to serve God and be a faithful servant. A parents job is to create a foundation within them that will remain with them to always look to Jesus when things are good and bad. Lets admit it times are definitely not the same as they were when we were kids. Children just don't go outside anymore, simple games like "Simon Says" and "Red Light, Green Light" hardly exist. Sabbath school and Sunday school isn't like it was back in the day when we were young. I remember Vacation Bible School being the highlight of the summer.. But not nowadays with our children . So parents it's up to us to put the foundation within our kids . Lately the "lifetime " channel has been running the series "The Bible" on TV.. Go figure that's how are kids are somewhat learning of the bible, off TV ... So anyways me and the kids sat down and watched it .. My son Christian the 12 year old and my daughter Johrdon the 8 year old were very interested in watching it and paid attention throughout the whole 2 hours ... Well as for my 5 year old it just scared the mess out of her and she had to sleep with her lights on. I was super excited that my children had so much interest in "The Bible" series and the stories that were shown. They asked question after question and they even googled a couple of things that I myself couldn't answer for them. I went to bed that night praying "Lord as a parent how can I keep my kids interested in you outside of church". I pondered all week and came up with this:

Meet Noah, Abraham , Joseph and Moses !!!!



Yes people you are looking at goldfish... 4 of them to be exact but this is how I used them with my children to teach them about God and responsibility. I lined the goldfish up in a row and called the children in the room. I introduced the fish as Noah , Abraham , Joseph and Moses. Of course the kids wanted to name them something else but I had to explain to them why their names were such and the responsibility that each of them would have with their new pets. The depth of character within the people of the Biblical stories is astounding. They faced great challenges and overcame them with faith and endurance. For kids today, there is much to learn from these ordinary people who made decisions that transformed them into extraordinary legends. Our children are in dire need of that level of conviction and determination. The characters of the Bible can teach them and us parents a great deal.
I started with the first fish Noah:
I told the kids how In Genesis 6, God is despairing over the wickedness that has overtaken humanity. Reluctantly, he decides to wipe out the human race and start from scratch. Noah, however, is the only one who has not been corrupted. You know the story. God tells him to build an ark that will save him, his family, and a whole host of animal life. As he is boarding the ark, God says to him, “for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.” Literally the whole world was doing what was wrong. But did that deter Noah from doing what was right? Not a chance!
So Noah was given to my son Christian; he has been following the crowd at school lately and not being his own leader so I told him "Leaders do what’s right even if they are alone, pay attention to Noah's blueprint and u can't go wrong".

The second fish Moses was given to Johrdon I told them how God has to be very convincing in order to get Moses to take action in Exodus 3. Moses at first gives excuse after excuse as to why he isn’t the right guy for the job. When he finally does answer his calling, Moses, approaches Pharaoh and boldly passes on the iconic message: “Let my people go.” The Israelites, Moses’ native people, had been enslaved by Egypt and Moses was the one enlisted to lead them to freedom. When the time came, Moses was willing to step up have faith and lead. So JoJo (Johrdon) got Moses because her and her baby sister are always fighting . I tell her "look you are suppose to take care of her and look out for her, your baby sister looks up to you." Leaders stick up for their people don't hurt your little sister love her and have her back.

The baby girl Carsyn gets Joseph the third fish. Every time she loses a game while playing with anyone she cries and gets very upset...in other words she's a sore loser.. So I tell them the story of Joseph. The story of Joseph beginning in Genesis 37 is powerful. The guy had a pretty tough life. He was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. His father was told that he was killed by a wild animal. In the end, though, Joseph became the leader of all Egypt–second only to the Pharaoh himself. When there is a famine, he is then able to save his family from starvation. He tells his brothers when he sees them again that, though they meant harm, God orchestrated the events to put Joseph in a position to save them. I explain to Carsyn that leaders have a vision that sustains them through difficult times. Although you may lose at something it only makes you stronger and God has something better for you.

The fourth fish Abraham goes to me. I tell the kids about Abraham. God approaches Abraham in Genesis 12 and tells him to “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you.” In other words, Abraham is instructed to leave his comfort zone and march onward into uncertainty. God even told Abraham to sacrifice his own son. Although it hurt his heart to be instructed by God to sacrifice his son, Abraham had to trust God and his promises .As a parent and an adult, managing risk and uncertainty is a daily task. I tell them mommy doesn't know everything and my faith is what gets me thru the bad times and to embrace uncertainty because God will never leave us. I tell them I know the truth: the promised land awaits me on the other side if I do the things that God asks of me even when I don't want to and that I will be rewarded for my faith and sacrifices.
The kids took their fish and ran off to their rooms excited. I took my fish Abraham down to my room sat him on my nightstand and watched him swim around for a while. Although I don't understand the path that God is leading me on right now I pray for a stronger faith. My job, wealth, love and health are all up in the air without a permanent direction, but I know what God promised me. He says "I'll fight your battles, if you will only trust me." So me and Abraham are going to stick it out.. He is my reminder that God said I could have it.

 

1 comment:

  1. Absolutely AWESOME!!!! Train up a child in they way they should go and when he is old he will not depart from it

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